Chapter 8

Annabeth POV

For a moment there, everything was perfect. I had just said yes to Percy asking me to marry him, but that peace was short lived by our friends who were bursting from the woods.

"What are you guys doing!?" I protested. "We were having a perfect moment right there. You have no idea how long I waited for this special moment!"

Clarisse walked up with a couple of her siblings all smug like they'd been planning this for weeks.

"I didn't know that it would take you two this long to get engaged. Percy why didn't you do it sooner!"

"Maybe because we've had so much going on that I didn't get to be alone with Annabeth for more than five minutes" Percy said.

"Don't you two sleep together though? Why not do it when you are alone in bed, "she said with a sly look on her face.

As Percy replied Grover trotted over with Juniper and intercepted the conversation.

"It's funny that you should ask that Clarisse" Grover said. "Why hasn't Chris asked you yet?" He said with a grin on his face.

Clarisse didn't say anything as her face went blood red. How could someone so opposed to others being happy neglect her own relationship?

"Percy" I said.

"Yes Annabeth" Percy replied.

"I don't think I told you this, but I had a dream that we were with your father underwater, and he was talking about us living down there with him."

"Is that so?" Percy replied.

"What struck me as intrigued was that I can't breathe underwater, but your dad gave me the power to do so."

"Anna it was only a dream and if it wasn't don't you think I would have told you about it sooner? Besides, you know I am not particularly good at keeping secrets."

"I know but it just seemed so real. It was odd since it happened right after you proposed."

"It's just a coincidence Anna that's all. You know demi-god dreams can come at any time. Now, let's go to our cabin, we have planning to do" Percy said.

As we walked back to our cabin, I kept looking at Percy just thinking about how different our lives were about to be. Imagining what the future holds for him and I.

"Hey Anna" Percy said.

"Yes Percy?"

"So, you know he have our home here and that is great and all, but do you want to have other places to live as well?"

"I have been thinking about that what places did you have in mind?" I asked.

"Well, my mom was asking if you would like a place to live near her in New York, but she understands that you might want to live in California to be near your family."

"Percy, once we get married you are my family, as long as we're together I don't care where we live as long as it's not in Tartarus."

"I was thinking we could do both, have a place in both New York and California and with Blackjack we could easily go to both places within a day" Percy said. "You don't have to decide right now, we still have quite a bit of planning to do before then."

"You're right, we do have some important planning to do, that's why I'm going to plan it while you talk to fish" I said playfully.

"You know I just proposed right?" Percy said.

"I know, that's why you're going to let me say that" I replied.

I kissed Percy before he could say something back that probably would've been sarcastic.

We got back to our cabin where we each took our time to get dressed to go out with Percy's family. Since we haven't gone to visit them in quite some time.

We got dressed only to realize that we didn't have a car to drive to Percy's mom's house. We realized that showing up on a flying horse in the middle of New York wasn't helpful when BlackJack looked like a plane to people because of the mist.

As we packed, Percy kept looking over at the water fountain that his father Poseidon had given to him like he was waiting for something to happen. Since we weren't going to be gone for very long, we packed the bare minimum. Percy still hadn't told me what we were going to be doing when we got there.

"Hey Percy, you still haven't told me how we're going to get there if we're not going to take BlackJack."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, when our parents left my dad gave us a present" Percy said.

"You're just now telling me this Percy?"

"Well, I didn't have a need to bring it up until we left so I didn't tell you about it."

"Okay then so what was so important that you had to keep it from me."

"Well just turn around and look WiseGirl" Percy said with a grin.

I turned and saw what Percy had been talking about. It was the blue camaro that his father had driven us in when we went on our family outing. I was completely stunned that his father had given him something so extravagant since most of the gifts he gave Percy were small in comparison.

"When did your dad give you this, I've been with you almost nonstop."

"It happened the other night before I went to bed. I had just finished getting dressed when I went over to the fountain by the window and saw that there was a golden drachma in the water. I went over and picked up the coin that I had found and saw that there was an incoming call."

Before he continued, he picked me up and set me down on our bed.

"As I was saying, I went over. And saw that there was a call waiting for me. So, I picked up the drachma and said, Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, answer my call. Before I knew it, my dad had answered and said to me. 'Percy, I'm coming up right now so be ready."

"Wait so did your dad come right then?" I asked.

"I was getting to that part Anna come on. Anyways like I was saying, he was coming up right then, but you were asleep, so I left the cabin to go to the beach to wait for him. He didn't come out of the water, which was strange since he's always done that."

"Let me guess, so he was standing next to you with the car with him?" As a daughter of Athena, I'm almost always right on my guesses.

"Well, you were almost right." Percy said.

I looked at him and dared him to say I was wrong. "I didn't say you were wrong, I said you were almost on the money."

"But yes, my dad was there. We talked about what I was going to do next, and I told him I'd like to take you on our own adventures but couldn't always take BlackJack as our transportation and that's when he gave me the camaro."

"He said it was an early birthday present and I need it more than he does since he doesn't usually drive to go to places. After that we hugged which is still weird, said our goodbyes, and he vanished into the water."

I wanted to question him more, but I knew that if I did, he most likely wouldn't since it still was at the base of it all, a conversation with his father.

We finished getting packed and proceeded to walk towards the pine tree where Percy's new car was waiting for us. Percy had called his mom prior to us leaving to tell her when we would be heading over to her house.

On the way there, I couldn't stop looking at the ring that now rested on my hand. I'm still expecting to wake up from a dream since this seems way too perfect to be real. My thought was short lived when Percy reached over and took my hand in his and smiled at me.

"So, what are you thinking about Anna?" He asked.

"I was thinking this seems to perfect to be real, do you think that sometimes? That one you'll wake up and realize it was a dream."

"Anna, if this was all a dream, I couldn't imagine what reality could be like if this is paradise. All I know is that I'd still propose to you and make my dream a reality. I love you and I'll always love you and that will never change."

He held my hand all the way to his mom's house, and I knew how much our future meant to him as we drove to his mom's house. Now Percy's mom had married Paul Blowfis a few years ago, and since then they had a little girl named Paige. She was Percy's half-sister but had all the energy that Percy did if not more.

As we pulled into the driveway, I could hear Paige playing in the house while Sally was calling for Paul to help with the food. I grabbed and opened the door only to see that it wasn't just the three of them, there was more.